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We are a new startup, and everyone (even the executive director) is working on a strictly volunteer capacity until funds are raised to hire formal employees. If you are interested in one day working for us, all potential employees (except in very
rare circumastances) must first donate their time as a volunteer. So, if you want to one day work here, first, show us that you really care about what we are doing. Once you've proven your mettle, and once we have the funds, we'll consider hiring
you in a paid capacity.

To that end, we have a general requirement that anyone who would like to eventually work for us should first volunteer with us. Therefore, management will always, as a first step when seeking to fill available positions, seek to hire/employ qualified volunteers who have shown a dedication to our mission:

first through the most number of volunteer hours

then through accomplishment of the highest Break Diving level

and finally through attainment of the highest formal education

RECRUITMENT STEPS

Want to volunteer with us? Read ALL of this.

SELF-ELIMINATION NOTE: If we start with 100 potential applicants, approximately 30 of them refuse to read this and bail out at this point. 70 will remain! Are you one of them?

Break Diving, Inc. is a unique company. We are a not-for-profit, but we run our operation like the entrepreneurial tech startup it is. We have assembled an amazing team of over 15 people, including coders, marketers, accountants, and more. We have a well-oiled machine in place and we only bring on people who we believe will help us move even faster and more efficiently. In other words, we work best with people who are the opposite of lazy, the opposite of undependable, and the opposite of irresponsible. We are--we hope--looking for you!

True, some people are scared off by our professionalism and discipline. Others, like you, are inspired and driven by it. Volunteer work with us is not like you'd find at a traditional charity. Yes, it's part-time, and you make your own hours, but we all work hard. VERY hard. And we love it. Why? We each believe that we are a part of something that is already starting to change the face of the planet, and therefore we are each willing to spend much of our precious free time developing something the world has never seen.

Do you have to give up your social life? No. Do you have to abandon your friends and family? No. Do you have to push your hobbies and dreams to the side? Absolutely not! But, do you have to really believe in our mission and be ready to join an amazing team of amazing people who actually do really important work? Yes, yes you must.

If you're up for it, and are ready to contribute, we'd love you to apply by reading the steps below.

SELF-ELIMINATION NOTE: Approximately 20 more potential applicants bail out at this point, realizing that this is going to be a consistent commitment of time with a measure of responsibility. About 50 people of the original 100 will continue.

PHASE 0: Is this a right fit for you?

Before you start the application process, first ask yourself these questions. If you can answer 'Yes!' to each one, you'll be a great fit here:

Are you comfortable working in an online remote staff environment (Slack)?

Can you check in regularly in this environment (at least five days per week), working with people from around the world?

Can you multitask with ease, working on multiple projects at one time?

Are you capable of working on a team, hand-in-hand helping one another?

Are you ready to be a full contributing staff member from day one?

Are you good at following directions, and at the same time, capable of innovation and trying something new?

Can you learn new technologies quickly?

Are you responsible, dependable, and capable of finishing tasks assigned to you?

Are you looking forward to working hard?

Are you humble enough to ask for help when needed?

Are you ready to join a team that is going to change the world for the better?

If the answer to all these above questions is a resounding "YEAH BABY YEAH!", move on to Phase 1 below.

PHASE 1: Onboarding (1 - 2 weeks)

SELF-ELIMINATION NOTE: We started with 100. 50 bailed even before starting these 8 steps. Another 30 will bail when they see these 8 steps, leaving just 20 actual applicants. We are glad to see you are one of the brave few!

STEP 2: COMPLETE AN APPLICATION. Complete our simple application on Volunteer Match for an open position. Be sure to answer ALL of the onboarding questions. Those applications with blank answers may be discarded. Please wait for a response before proceeding to step 3.

STEP 3: JOIN & PARTICIPATE IN OUR COMMUNITY.Join our free community and for 3 days, prove you care about our community by interacting with our members. Nothing else happens with your application until this step is completed.

Complete the onboarding checklist.

Post a second message with the tag bd-volunteer-with-us and explain why you would like to volunteer with Break Diving.

Show us you actually care by talking to members, helping out where you can, and working to engage our community.

Submit two letters of recommendation from anyone who knows you well, and who we can call or email for verification.

STEP 5: PASS TWO KNOWLEDGE CHALLENGE TESTS. If you have proven yourself so far, at this point, you will have to complete and pass two of our knowledge challenge tests (general staff (REQUIRED) and one of the following: coding challenge, marketing challenge, accounting challenge, admin challenge, etc. based on what position you are applying for). Each test has a basic, intermediate, and advanced section. You must attempt to answer every question in every section. Answers of "Don't know" is not accepable: you must TRY. Click here to view the knowledge tests.

STEP 6: REVIEW VOLUNTEER HANDBOOK. If you pass, you will given our latest volunteer handbook to look at, which explains all of our staff rules. If after reading our volunteer handbook, you are still interested in volunteering with us, we will set up your video interview.

STEP 7: VIDEO INTERVIEW. During this 1-hour video interview, you will be asked to explain the company's mission, why you want to be a part of the company, and how you are going to positively contribute to what we are doing. It's a chance for you to get to know us better, and us to get to know you better. If the interview goes well, you'll be offered a position as a probationary staff member, and asked to sign our volunteer agreement.

STEP 8: SIGN VOLUNTEER AGREEMENT. You have time to review and sign the volunteer agreement. Once signed, and returned, you will officially become a part of the team as a probationary staff member.

SELF-ELIMINATION NOTE: Of the 20 who started the 8 steps, about 5 end up finishing them and being invited onto the probationary staff. Good for you!

PHASE 2: Probation (Up to 4 weeks)

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Join our Slack staff communications tool and download the Slack app for your phone and if on PC, desktop.

Provide us your github username.

Read all staff-rules and the welcome-file on our team StackOverflow.

Join your primary and secondary team and become familiar.

You will be observed during these four weeks and rated on:

Participation in the community

interaction with our members

dependability

creativity

ability to multi-task

teamwork

ability to work independently

how well you follow the staff rules

support and understanding of our mission

ability to increase productivity of team

general attitude and personality

overall fit with the team

SELF-ELIMINATION NOTE: Of the 5 new probationary staff, about 2 end up actually joining the full staff. We started with 100, and only 2 made it onto the team. We hope you are one of those two!

Why such an involved application process?

We don't want to invest in training someone who doesn't first invest in learning about the company and who does't first make a contribution to our important mission. By following the above steps, we learn whether you can follow instructions, whether you are serious about volunteering with us, and whether you feel you'd be a good fit at the company.

So, what are you waiting for? Get started already! Break Diving needs you! Incidentally, so does the world!